We had planned for a weekend of outdoor fun with lots of progress being made all over the place but the weather had other plans. Some wet days are ok, you can put on your rain coat and water proof trousers and be really smug about ” no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing ” etc. Today was not one of those days. The wild was very wild, the rain was very wet and the whippets had their inside-day faces on.

So I have started a little craft project. Later this summer we are going to put a new shed on the plot and deck it out as a summer house , The Cabin. You will hear much more about this plan over the next few weeks, it has been occupying my mind almost to the exclusion of being able to remember how to wash myself and change my clothes ( the curse of an obsessive nature). Anyway, I had this idea for a peg loom rug made from our sheeps wool. As. You may remember, my doozer father-in-law made me a peg loom a couple of years ago..and since then, my doozer Dad has used it to make a really lovely rug. So with this inspiration I have started a round rug.

My mum and dad learnt how to make this type of round rug from a lady they met at my mum’s spinning group. Basically you weave up to the end of the row and the then weave back again missing out the top peg, the next time you miss out the top two pegs, the third time you miss the top three pegs and so on. Thus creating a wedge shape. I am really pleased with it. I will upload some pictures of the finished article. It is taking a long time to make but it’s all very zen. I that’ve spent the whole day weaving and listening to the radio. 🙂

We planted some seeds under the grow lamp on the 8th of March, and they seem to be getting on well. 15 days later and this is what we have.

The ones with two large leaves are artichokes. I am really hopeful that by the end of the season they will be big enough to plant up in our per meant area next to the poly tunnel. We won’t be able to harvest them for the first few years while they establish, but after that they should give us artichoke hearts and leaves every year.

Today was the first day in ages that we have had a good block of time to get things going on the plot. We got up with a very long to do list, but in the end only managed to get the most time sensitive jobs done.

As you may know from previous post. Becky is rather partial to a spreadsheet, so we have worked up our 2015 planting plan. This year were making crucial change to the way we are blocking together our plants. We are doing this to help the bed rotation. So the classifications for a classic 4 bed crop rotation are as follows;

Leaves: for us this means cabbage, kale and cauliflower.

Roots: for us this means onions, leeks and spinach beet.

Fruits: for us this means sweetcorn, tomatoes and lots of squash and cucumbers. This group also includes potatoes believe it or not.

Legumes: for us this means broad beans, as we haven’t been able to get any other beans working outside.

So, by blocking together the veg in this way we will be able to be a bit more scientific with our rotations.

Also, I wanted to say a word about the results of my grafting experiment last year. As you can see by the photo, about 10 trees worked. I also managed to propagate some root stock, so I’ll be having another go next year when they have grown a bit more.

The other jobs we did today were removing brambles, pruning the fruit trees and most excitingly planting up the poly tunnel. Becky has planted salad, spring onions and dwarf french beans. Fingers crossed for a good start to spring.